Wot - did it smell of bees? (Great story, by the way!)
On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 at 16:01, Eric Asher <eric.asher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
It was the same with the chamber pot, I am told
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*From:* oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
on behalf of Kerry Dawson <kerrydawson99@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Sent:* 26 March 2020 15:58
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Re: Watch at the hive entrance.. Hullo Sweetie
It smells of bees – I’m not willing to taste it 😊. No ants, but I
haven’t seen any ants this year.
*From:* oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *On
Behalf Of *Eric Asher
*Sent:* 26 March 2020 15:30
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Watch at the hive entrance.. Hullo Sweetie
The doctors of old when visiting the patient used to look at the
chamberpot.
If ants were crawling into it, then it was a case of diabetes.
Ah how sweet it is to make a diagnosis.
Similarly, if the liquid is a honey related hive product, the ants will be
over this liquid in a trice.
Cheers
Eric
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*From:* oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
on behalf of Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx>
*Sent:* 26 March 2020 15:11
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Re: Beekeeping and Covid-19
The key right nw is not chilling the brood. You could probably add a box
to a Warre today, if you kept the quilt on the boxes above. I did a
manipulation to my Warres a couple of days ago and found the top 2 boxes
could be lifted as a unit - they are not yet very heavy with honey. The
bees ignored me! They were too focused on carting pollen in and no one got
squashed.
With TBHs it is trickier to keep the brood warm when you open the hive so
I am going to wait a week and hopefully it will be a couple of degrees
warmer then. I won't go into the brood nest but I need to make room for it
to expand into by moving honey bars.
Kerry - if you just have 2 bars' space left the bees are definitely going
to feel crowded so I think in your case, you need to give them more room
ASAP before they begin building unnecessary queen cells and prepare for
spurious swarming. I would give them the whole hive volume - don't worry
about chilling them, the combs will baffle draughts effectively.
I'm not sure what the liquid would be. Probably condensation from
processing nectar. Sometime speople taste such liquids to see if they taste
sweet (leaking nectar) but I do not recommend that! I don't think there is
much you can do about it except increase ventilation - say by part opening
the base so air can go through the mesh at the bottom if you have one - so
don't worry about it.
Paul
On Thu, 26 Mar 2020, 12:16 Jon Woods, <jwoods@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Thanks for sharing Paul.
When is it warm enough to add the extra box to a warre – is there a
specific temp ?
Cheers. J
*From:* oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *On
Behalf Of *Oxnatbees
*Sent:* 26 March 2020 12:10
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Beekeeping and Covid-19
The NBU has posted some guidance regarding beekeeping during the COVID-19
pandemic:
COVID-19 and Beekeeping Update
<https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalbeeunit.com%2FdownloadNews.cfm%3Fid%3D170&data=02%7C01%7Cjwoods%40coca-cola.com%7Ccbfcb900bd9f4b10f8b108d7d17e9e8a%7C548d26ab8caa49e197c2a1b1a06cc39c%7C0%7C0%7C637208214067921542&sdata=0FW6MFuEEQYj2LTlYiSStUFBN1FuRB%2Behv%2BCdmwjqe0%3D&reserved=0>
OBKA have made a few more points. Amalgamating these and some other
thoughts:
*Key points:*
- Swarms (1) - the NBU recommend you do all you can to minimise these.
Translation: regular invasive inspections; squash queen cells;
pre-emptively split colonies. This goes against our ethos of allowing the
bees to follow their natural lifecycle, and remember swarms are an
important part of parasite control because of the associated brood break.
And in my experience, splits don't stop swarms! Once the bees decide it is
time to swarm they will do so, and let's face it they will probably find a
suitable cavity somewhere. What you *can* do is set up your spare
empty hives asap, and when warm enough pre-emptively give your bees room to
expand into their existing hive by moving top bars (in TBHs) and adding
boxes (in vertical hives) which should reduce the number of swarms.
- Swarms (2) It should still be possible for some people to collect
these if they want to, observing suitable social distancing etc.
- Swarms (3) This season, we will still run a "swarms wanted" list but
we will have to do things a bit differently. For example if someone comes
to my house to pick up a swarm I have caught from my own hives, I will just
tell them where the box is and let them take it - but I don't plan to go
out and about as we have a vulnerable 84yr old with us.
- Maybe carry a copy of the NBU advice when travelling to an out
apiary just in case you are stopped by police.
This is going to be a very odd year and may accelerate the spread of
"survivor" traits due to more escaped swarms allowed to do their own thing.
Paul
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